A Warning to a Friend
by 1-1 Marines
Summary: A certain Senator sends a warning to her friend. A sequel to "Prepare for War." Warning: Spoilers ahead for Season 1 and TCW.


**A Warning to a Friend**

 **ME: A/N: This was made at the suggestion of author Nuts and Jam, who I unfortunately can't thank via PM.**

Many changes had occurred since the Declaration of a New Order, Senator Riyo Chuchi of the Sujimis Sector reflected.

The various corporatist (due to the fact they had depended on manipulation of the Senate to get away with their crimes) business organizations-the Trade Federation, the Corporate Alliance, the Techno Union, and the Commerce Guild-had all been nationalized, with their assets either placed under the control of the state or given as rewards to loyal companies. Only the InterGalactic Banking Clan remained, but it was now a state-owned enterprise and now known as the Imperial Banking System.

The Galactic Senate was now the Imperial Senate, and a glorified social club now. Sure, moderates attempted to change the Empire from within-always under the guise of complete loyalty and trying to make the glorious Empire even better, however-but the majority were mere sycophants, loyalists, and cronies. The Senate could no longer vote to overrule a veto, for Emperor Sheev Palpatine could introduce, pass, and veto legislation at his leisure.

The Jedi were all but destroyed, turned on by their clone troops. An organization neither confirmed or denied to officially exist, the Imperial Inquisition-rumored to report directly to Lord Vader-had replaced the Order and hunted down any survivors of Order 66. The clones of Jango Fett (to Chuchi's horror, she had learned that inhibitor chips had been implanted in the soldiers, forcing them to gun down their superiors and friends against their will) were now supplemented by those bred from new templates and even recruits as well as conscripts. Many worlds, from Lasan to Kashyyyk, had been suppressed. In case of the former, rumor was that Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, Regional Governor of the Outer Rim, had ordered the use of now illegal T-7 ion disruptor rifles to "pacify" the Lasat species. The official line was that the Imperial Military had arrived too late to save the Lasats, that they had been destroyed by a Separatist military unit that had refused to surrender after the conclusion of the Clone Wars.

But the official line for the decimation of the Jedi Order was that they had attempted to assassinate the Supreme Chancellor and overthrow the government. And Chuchi had personally known a Jedi Padawan, Ahsoka Tano; because of their friendship, Chuchi had learned to take all Imperial-sanctioned news reports with a grain of salt.

I once negotiated for peace with the Talz. Is this what qualifies as peace? Law and order enforced at all costs?

What have we become if the galaxy accepts this?

There was a knock at the door. "Senator Chuchi, ma'am?"

It was the Imperial Navy Lieutenant in charge of the Lambda-class shuttle the Pantoran stateswoman was traveling on, a Human male named Gherant. Though unarmed due to being a Senate model, the shuttle still had powerful shields and a reinforced hull-and probably bugged, so she didn't even type her private thoughts on a datapad out of fear of it being hacked.

"Yes, Lieutenant Gherant?" Was Chuchi's response.

"We'll be exiting hyperspace in t-minus ten minutes, ma'am. After that, you'll soon be back home on Pantora, Senator."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Gherant," Chuchi answered. "That will be all. I'll make sure to pass on recommendations for a promotion to your superiors."

"Thank you, ma'am." She meant it, too. Gherant seemed a decent person regardless of his political affiliations; a person like him rising up the ranks of the Empire would do some good.

Chuchi felt the transition to realspace less than ten minutes later. Approximately five minutes after that, Gherant knocked on her door again. "Senator Chuchi, ma'am, we're entering the atmosphere now."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. I'll make sure to note the fact you informed me of this personally rather than use an intercom-you're such a polite young man."

It wasn't mere flattery; Gherant definitely was infinitely more pleasant than men like Tarkin or one of his more notable henchman, Admiral Conan Antonio Motti.

The shuttle landed, and Chuchi made sure to thank all of Gherant's subordinates before leaving. Like their superior, the shuttle crew embers were polite to her, and she definitely noted it going beyond mere courtesy for an Imperial Senator.

A pity they serve the murderous machine that is the Empire.

After getting back home via landspeeder, Riyo Chuchi disguised herself and got out a special holoprojector she reserved for this exact kind of occasion.

"Fulcrum, this is Lever," she began the conversation.

"Fulcrum here, receiving," Chuchi's friend replied; Ahsoka was now a full-grown woman in her thirties who served as a handler for the rebel network both were a part of. "Go ahead, Lever."

"Fulcrum," Chuchi warned, "be advised: Reinforcements are headed to Lothal. I say again, the Imperials are sending more troops to Lothal. It appears the Empire wants to extinguish the fire your cell's spark ignited. I'd have informed you earlier, but the circumstances didn't allow it."

By which she meant that Coruscant was far too secure for now compared to Pantora. Even with encrypted communicators, disguised voices, and a masquerade the Near-Human never thought it'd be safe enough to send a message from what was now officially known as Imperial Center. Nor did she want to narrow down the options if-or when-an Imperial was able to intercept and decrypt the conversation she was having.

"I understand completely, Lever. Any idea what we're up against?"

"For the Imperial Navy, I've confirmed that the _Devastator_ Battle Group, commanded by Lord Tion, is en route to Lothal, plus some unique ship called _Arc Hammer_. As for ground forces, the cream of the crop of the Stormtrooper Corps, the Five Hundred and First Legion commanded by Major General Appo is being sent in along with Blizzard Force, an armored unit led by Major General Rom Mohc. Apparently Blizzard Force has AT-ATs and Tarkin's niece, Brigadier General Natasi Daala Tarkin, serves as Monc's second-in-command. Apart from that, I didn't get any more information from my contact, but expect a lot of heat. If these reinforcements are coming after Tarkin, who himself was preceded by an Inquisitor and ISB Brigadier General David Kallus, it's not gonna be easy."

"The only easy day was yesterday, my friend."

 **ME: A/N: Attentive viewers will notice a reference to the Navy SEALs in the last line. I originally thought it was from the British SAS, but it turns out their motto is "Who dares wins."**

 **You may have also noticed a reference in the form of Lieutenant Gherant. He's not some random OC; this is the same Commander Gherant from ROTJ ("It's too late!"). Considering the, say, eight years between the finale of Season 1 and ROTJ, it's more than enough for Gherant to climb up by two ranks. More so when you consider how many officers were killed aboard the first Death Star, wartime attrition/the fact it's easier to be promoted in war, and the fact Vader chokes his fair share of incompetents (though Lorth Needa survived in my headcanon, given how Vader accepted his apology-why mock a corpse?-and the fact the good Captain personally apologized for screwing up on the job, which could easily lead to Vader simply half-choking him/choking him into unconsciousness to motivate him not to repeat the mistake).**

 **You may have also noticed that I described the Corrupt Corporate Executives of the Separatists as "corporatists." This is in light of the fact they had their own delegations in the Senate, which undoubtedly opened the door to all sorts of cronyism. If George Lucas intended to criticize free market capitalism (which is hypocritical and a change of writing given how a deleted scene from ANH has Biggs bring up Imperial nationalization), he really did a bad job; especially since the Commerce Guild in the EU/Legends was known for bullying smaller companies into joining.**

 **Yes, I named Riyo "Lever." I couldn't come up with anything else, and since Ahsoka's "Fulcrum..."**

 **As you can see, Daala is back. While she performed miserably as an Admiral in Kevin J. Anderson's "novels" (of course, maybe ten fans will miss Disney making his work non-canon), it's mentioned she was legitimately good at ground tactics. It's just Anderson's idiocy that she was made an Admiral and thus realistically did not do as good as a job commanding four ISDs as she would have commanding Stormtroopers. I made her a niece of Tarkin because Disney doing that would reference their relationship in Legends without bringing up infidelity.**

 **As for Kallus being named "David," it's a reference to the fact he's an evil David to Zeb's good Goliath. Plus it's like Luke and Leia where the first names are relatively normal (for the Star Wars universe). The surnames, on the other hand...**

 **Final note: Here comes a mobile Dark Trooper factory to subjugate Lothal. Yay!**


End file.
